The Book, Cat, & Cat Book Lovers Almanac

of historical trivia regarding books, cats, and other animals. Actually this blog has evolved so that it is described better as a blog about cats in history and culture. And we take as a theme the advice of Aldous Huxley: If you want to be a writer, get some cats. Don't forget to see the archived articles linked at the bottom of the page.

October 27, 2014

October 27, 1950

A. N. Wilson (October 27, 1950) is an English historian, a prominent public intellectual who does not back away from fights with other academics. Wilson's children's book, Stray (1987) about the adventures of a cat who has several homes, contains this dialogue:

I ran to the window ledge and said to Tom-Cat, "We've got to run." "No cat leaves here without my permission," he snarled. I could see his eyes gleaming in the darkness and not for the first time I was struck by how deeply stupid he was...

When we remember Wilson's public spats, it is easy to imagine he was inspired by the stupid eyes of certain other writers. Although his exchanges with Bevis Hillier chronologically could not be the exact inspiration, that one gives us a sense of how some spats spark. 

Anita Singh recalls in her article of April 5, 2012:

In 2002, he [Wilson] reviewed Bevis Hillier’s biography of John Betjeman and called it “a hopeless mishmash”.  Four years later, Wilson wrote his own Betjeman biography and included a passionate love letter supposedly written by the poet’s mistress. It turned out to be a hoax concocted by Hillier, and the first letter of each sentence spelled out “AN Wilson is a s---”.

The cat on the cover of Stray looks able to take care of himself:



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